NEW DELHI: Jaypee Cement won the Majra coal block in Maharashtra with a winning bid of Rs 1,230 per tonne as the government concluded the third tranche of coal auctions, netting a total of about Rs 4,362 crore from three mines. The government originally planned to action 10 blocks in the third tranche. Bidding for four were cancelled because of lukewarm response while auction of three was deferred for reasons such as lawsuit and technical issues.

On the first day of the auction on Tuesday, the government had sold one block each in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, which together would fetch revenues of Rs 2,527 crore to the government spread over the life of the mines.

Crest Steel & Power won the Bhaskarapara coal block in Chhattisgarh at a price of Rs 755 per tonne while Topworth Urja & Metals won Marki Mangli-I coal block in Maharashtra at Rs 715 per tonne.

Before this round, the government had auctioned 29 coal blocks in two tranches to private companies and garnered overRs 2 lakh crore. The Supreme Court had in September last year cancelled allocation of 204 mines to firms without auction.